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Ali Mohammed al-Nimr

Ali Mohammed al-Nimr is a 21 year old man sentenced to death for alleged crimes committed when he was 17. This is against international conventions that Saudi Arabia itself has signed.

Scottish PEN's Writers at Risk committee fights for imprisoned and persecuted writers, so why are we asking people to sign this petition?

The answer is simple. Writers are not special - they're simply in the front line, speaking for ordinary citizens - and we support everyone trying to express their own opinions.
We believe freedom of speech and thought are the basic human rights that all the others flow from. Ali's crime was to take part in a peaceful demonstration in support of his uncle, the dissident cleric Sheik Nimr al-Nimr, who was calling for free democratic elections in Saudi Arabia.

Sheik al-Nimr died in the round of 47 executions that took place all over Saudi Arabia on 2nd January 2016. Please help ensure that the same fate does not happen to Ali. Thank you.